Heald frames and guides therefor in looms for weaving



Feb. 13, 1962 E. PFARRWALLER 3,020,930

HEALD FRAMES AND GUIDES THEREFOR IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING Filed June 20,1960 ar/l/ W/lg l/l/l/l/u/r was. '///'//////////////////,7//

INV EN TOR. EEW/NPF'AEE WflLLEE.

BY [ll 4 TT'OIPNEK United States Patent Gflflee 3,020,930 Patented Feb.13, 1962 3,020,930 HEALD FRAMES AND GUIDES THEREFOR 1N LGOMS FGR WEAVINGErwin Pfarrwaller, Winterthur, Switzerland, assignor to Sulzer Freres,S.A., Winterthur, Switzerland, a corporation of Switzerland Filed June20, 1960, Ser. No. 37,264 Claims priority, application Switzerland Mar.31, 1960 4 Claims. (Cl. 139-82) The present invention relates to healdframes and guides therefor in a loom for weaving. Each heald frameincludes an upper and a lower frame bar and lateral staysinterconnecting the ends of said bars. Guides are provided engaging thestays for guiding the vertical up and down movement of the heald frames.

In conventional heald frames, the stays connecting the ends of the upperand lower frame bars are formed by a solid rod which extends intogrooves of a stationary guide element. The number of grooves in theguide element corresponds to the number of heald frames to be guided.

In another conventional heald frame, the lateral stays are provided withbores which are parallel to the upper and lower frame bars and throughwhich a spindle of a tool for accurately positioning the healds prior tothreading the healds may be inserted. These bores necessitate a wideningof the stays so that their rigidity is not impaired by the bore. Staysof this type which are rather thick are placed adjacent to one anotherand contact one another so that the vertical movement of the healdframes is not guided individually. A package of heald frames is usuallyvertically guided whereby the guide can be adjusted to take care of agreater or lesser number of juxtaposed heald frames.

The heald frames according to the invention are provided with stayswhich have a groove or recess for receiving corresponding protuberanceson a stationary guide element. The stays preferably have a U-shapedcross sectional configuration whereby a bore can be provided in the webportion of the stay without substantially impairing strength andrigidity of the stay and without requiring widening of the stay andabandoning individual vertical guidance of the stay. With the structureaccording to the invention, it is not necessary to increase the spacingbetween the heald frames. It is desired that the entire package of healdframes in a loom for weaving is as thin as possible. With the structureaccording to the invention, a package containing a rather large numberof heald frames is not unduly thick, because the spacing between theindividual heald frames is very small. Individual guidance of the healdframes is desired because, in this case, movement of the frames is notaffected by the juxtaposed frames. There is no frictional engagementbetween the stays at the ends of the frames and no premature wear of thelatter which is of particular importance in modern weaving machineswhich operate at a very high speed. If the vertical movement of eachindividual heald frame is guided, the accuracy of the guiding effect isimproved. If individual guidance for the heald frames is provided,individual frames may be removed or added to suit different requirementswhen weaving different types of fabric. It is not necessary to provideadjusting means for the guide as is required when the guide is used forguiding a plurality of juxtaposed and adjacent stays.

In the conventional structure in which the stays at the ends of theheald frames are rather thick in order to permit insertion of a healdpositioning device as is necessary when using a machine for threadingthe healds, the stays may be individually guided in gaps between theteeth or ribs of a comblike guide element. This,

however, would require an increase of the distance between juxtaposedheald frames which is not desired, and would require rebuilding ofexisting machines to be adapted to the widened stays. With thearrangement according to the invention, merely the lateral stays of theexisting heald frames must be changed when it is desired to providebores for a heald alignment tool in an existing loom, without abandoningindividual guidance of the heald frames or increasing the distancebetween the frames.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the lateral stays have aU-shaped cross sectional configuration whereby the legs of the U areflared in the direction from the web of the stay towards the free endsof the lateral parts thereof. The ribs of the co-mblike guide elementwhich extend into the grooves of the stays have a corresponding wedgeshaped cross sectional configuration. When producing a U-profile of thetype described, the punch, for example of a press for making the stays,can be easily removed from the finished stay. Manufacture of the guidecomb is also facilitated by the wedgelike cross sectional configurationof the teeth or ribs of the comb. According to the invention, the latteris preferably made of synthetic material, for example polyplast, as forinstance a polyamide which may be used pure or provided with fillingmaterial.

The novel features which are considered characteristic of the inventionare set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The inventionitself, however, and additional objects and advantages thereof will bestbe understood from the following description of embodiments thereof whenread in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a package of heald frames verticallyguided according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a large scale horizontal sectional view of the left end of theheald frame package shown in FIG. 1, and of a guide therefor, thesection being made along line II-II in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a horizontal sectional illustration of a modifled end stay andguide therefor according to the invention.

Referring more particularly to FIG. 1 of the drawing, numeral 1designates a heald frame or shaft consisting of an upper frame bar 2, alower frame bar 3, and stays 4 and 5 interconnecting the ends of thebars 2 and 3. The bars 2 and 3 are also interconnected by means of anintermediate stay 6. Shaft staves 8 for supporting healds 9 of whichonly a few are shown, are individually connected to the bars 2 and 3 byconnectors 7. The warp threads are drawn through eyes, not shown, in thehealds 9 which eyes are all located along the center line 1-1 of theheald frame. The heald frames are individually supported by elements 12connected to the lower frame bar 3 and actuated by a shedding mechanism,not shown.

The stays 4 and 5 at the ends of the heald frame are formed of channels,a bore 13- being provided in the web 14 at the elevation of the lineII-II in FIG. 1 for inserting a spindle 15 for positioning the healds sothat the threading can be done by machine. The flanges 16 of thechannels are flared in the direction from the web 14 toward the freeends 17. Ribs 18 forming part of a comblike guide element 19 and havinga wedge-shaped cross sectional configuration extend into the channels.The distance 0 between the center lines of two juxtaposed heald frames 1should be as small as possible. This distance is defined by the type ofthe weaving machine, particularly by the type of the shedding mechanismactuating the heald frames and cannot be changed without considerablyrebuilding the machine.

It is obvious that the flanges 16 of the channels forming the end staysof the heald frames need not be flared as shown in FIG. 2 but can bearranged parallel, if desired. In this case, the ribs 18 of the comb 19would have to have a rectangular cross sectional configuration which canbe obtained by milling the gaps between the ribs of the comb.

FIG. 3 illustrates a modified cross sectional configuration of an endstay 4' which has substantially the shape of an H and whose flanges 22,23 are parallel. The groove formed by the outer flanges receives a rib18 having parallel lateral surfaces 21' of a cornblike guide element 19.The lower and the upper heald bars are inserted in the recess formed bythe inner flanges 23.

I claim:

1. In a weaving machine, a plurality of heald frames, each frameincluding an upper and a lower frame bar and lateral staysinterconnecting the ends of said bars, and comblike guides forvertically guiding said stays, said stays having at least a portion ofU-shaped cross sectional configuration, said guides having rib portionsindividually extending into the grooves formed by said portions ofU-shaped cross sectional configuration.

2. In a weaving machine as defined in claim 1 and wherein said stayshave a U-shaped cross sectional configuration, the legs of the U beingflared, the rib portions of said comblike guides having acorrespondingly shaped wedge-shaped cross sectional configuration.

3. In a weaving machine as defined in claim 1 and wherein said comblikeguides are made of a synthetic polymeric plastic material.

4. In a weaving machine as defined in claim 1 and wherein said stayshave a web portion connecting the legs of the U, a bore being providedin said web portion for introducing therethrough a tool for positioningthe healds prior to threading the healds.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,510,404 Lake et al. June 6, 1950

